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Saudi Arabia's travel highlights

Jeddah Frank Gardner, writing for Telegraph Travel earlier this year, described Jeddah as his favourite Arab city. "As a steamy, Red Sea trading port it has a bustle and buzz like no other place in Saudi Arabia," he said. "In the winding, labyrinthine backstreets of the old quarter, known as the "Balad", you hear every language and dialect of the region, spoken by Egyptians, Sudanese, Eritreans, Somalis and Yemenis. "Here, little has changed since I first explored its colourful street markets in the 1980s, but in the open boulevards of north Jeddah I was in for a surprise. As the sun sank low, a cavalcade of bikers and souped-up sports car enthusiasts gathered in their hundreds, a Bob Marley reggae track blaring from giant speakers mounted on a flatbed. I rode with them, savouring the warm breeze on my face and the unexpected pleasure of hearing music played publicly in a country that normally frowns on such earthly pleasures." The city's highlights include Souq al-Alawi, Al-Tayibat City Museum for International Civilisation, and the Corniche.